Medicine: Hypnosis for Surgery

The draped woman patient on the operating table at St. Vincent's
Hospital in Manhattan's Greenwich Village was almost ready for surgery.
Her left breast was bared for the surgeon's knife to remove a benign
growth. But the patient had been given no anesthesia, was fully
conscious. Beside the surgeon stood Chicago's Dr. William S. Kroger,
taking the place of the anesthesiologist. His substitute for
anesthesia: hypnosis.

Much of Dr. Kroger's work was already done. The night before, he had
hypnotized the patient in her own room. Now, with only a cue, he was
able to assure her that she would feel no...